The Politics of God

"Woe to the legislators of infamous laws,
to those who issue tyrannical decrees,
who refuse justice to the unfortunate
and cheat the poor among my people of their rights,
who make widows their prey and rob the orphan.
What will you do on the day of punishment,
when, from far off, destruction comes?" (Is.10:1-4).

"God calls to judgment the elders and the princes of his people:
'You are the ones who destroy the vineyard
and conceal what you have stolen from the poor.
By what right do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?' (Is.3:14-15).

"Ruthless judgement is reserved for the high and mighty."
(Wis. 6:5).

"The lowly will be compassionately pardoned,
the mighty will be mightily punished." (Wis. 6:6)

"Your busy trading has filled you with violence and sin."
(Ezek. 28:16).

"He who gives to the poor shall never want,
he who closes his eyes to them will bear many a curse." (Prov. 28:27)

"When the wicked are ascending to power, men take cover,
but when they perish, virtuous men multiply." (Prov. 28:28).

"As you have done, so will it be done to you:
your deeds will recoil on your own head." (Obadiah 1:15)

"These are the things that you must do.
Speak the truth to one another;
let the judgments at your gates be such as conduce to peace;
do not secretly plot evil against one another;
do not love false oaths; since all this is what I hate.
It is the Lord who speaks.' (Zech.8:16-17).

"The voice of the Lord. He is calling to the city:
Listen, tribe, and assembly of the city
whose rich men are crammed with violence,
whose citizens are liars.
Must I put up with fraudulent measure,
or that abomination the short-weight bushel?
Must I hold the man honest who measures with false scales
and a bag of faked weights?
I have therefore begun to strike you down,
to bring you to ruin for your sins." (Micah 6:9-13).

Anyone who says I know him
and does not keep his commandmetns, is a liar (1 John 2:3)

God has trapped the wicked in the work of their own hands (Ps.9:16).

"The love of money is the root of all evils" (1 Timothy 6:10)

"If a man who was rich enough in this world's goods saw that one
of his brothers was in need, but closed his heart to him, how could the
love of God be living in him? My children, our love is not to be just words
or mere talk, but something real and active; only by this can we be certain
that we are children of the truth..." (1 John 3:17-19).

"To sum up the whole matter:
fear God, and keep his commandments,
since this is the whole duty of man.
For God will call all hidden deeds,
good or bad, to judgment." (Eccl. 12:13-14).

"Your princes are rebels, accomplices of thieves.
all are greedy for profit and chase after bribes
They show no justice to the orphan,
the cause of the widow is never heard." (Is.1:23).

'No servant can be the slave of two masters:
he will either hate the first and love the second,
or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn.
You cannot be the slave both of God and of money." (Luke 16:13).

Her princes pronounce their verdict for bribes,
her priests take a fee for their rulings,
her prophets make divinations for money.
And yet they rely on the Lord.
They say, 'Is not the Lord in our midst?
No evil is going to overake us.'
Because of this, since the fault is yours,
Zion will become ploughland,
Jerusalem a heap of rubble,
and the mountain of the Temple
a wooded height." (Micah 3:9-12).

"Listen to this, you who trample on the needy
and try to suppress the poor people of the country.
You who say, 'When will New Moon be over
so that we can sell our corn;
and sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?
Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,
by swindling and tampering with the scales,
we can buy up the poor for money,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat?
God swears it by the pride of Jacob,
'Never will I forget a single thing you have done'.
Is this not the reason for the earthquakes,
for its inhabitants all mourning,
and all of of the land heaving like the Nile..." (Amos 8:4-8).

"Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me
­it is the Lord God who speaks­
to break unjust fetters
and undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke,
to share your bread with the hungry,
and shelter the homeless poor,
to clothe the man you see to be naked
and not turn from your own kin?
Then will your light shine like the dawn
and your wound be quickly healed over." (Is.58:6-8).

"To oppress the poor is to insult his creator,
to be kind to the needy is to honor God." (Prov. 14:31)

"The wicked man assumes an air of confidence,
the honest man gives his own conduct careful thought. (Prov. 21:29).

"The reward of humility is the fear of the Lord,
riches, honor and life." (Prov. 22:4).

"Because a man is poor, do not therefore cheat him,
nor at the city gate, oppress anybody in affliction;
for the Lord takes up their cause,
and extorts the life of their extortioners." (Prov. 22:22-23)

"He who conceals his faults will not prosper,
he who confesses and renounces them will find mercy." (Prov. 28:13)

"How well you know the way
in pursuit of love!
Yes, you have even accustomed your steps
to walk with crime,
to the point when your hands display
the stains from the blood of innocent men." (Jer.2:33-34).

"I have made my decree and will not relent:
because they have sold the virtuous man for silver
and the poor man for a pair of sandals,
becaue they trample on the heads of ordinary people
and push the poor out of their path..." (Amos 2:6-7).

"It is you who play the enemy to my people.
From the innocent man you snatch his cloak,
on the man who thinks himself safe you inflict the damage of war.
The women of my people you drive out from the homes they loved;
their children you rob forever of the honor I gave them,
'Get up! Be off! There is no resting here.
For a worthless thing, you exact an extortionate pledge." (Micah 2:8-10).

"But 'Enough, enough!' I say.
"Yes, the sluicegates above will open,
and the foundations of the earth will rock.
The earth will split into fragments,
the earth will be riven and rent.
The earth will shiver and shake,
the earth will stagger like a drunkard,
sway like a shanty;
so heavy will be its sin on it, it will fall
never to rise again.
That day, the Lord will punish
above, the armies of the sky,
below, the kings of the earth;
they will be herded together,
shut up in a dungeon,
confined in a prison
and, after long years, punished." (Is.24:16-23)

"Thus the laboring of the peoples comes to nothing
the toiling of the nations ends in fire." (Jer.51:58).

We are all aware who it was that said: 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay'.
And again: 'The Lord will judge his people.'
It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' (Heb.10:30-31)

"It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life,
and only a few find it." - (Mat. 7:14).

"It is not those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord',
who will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Mat.7:21).

"For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper
than that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will never get into the kingdom of heaven." (Mat.5:20).